Youth UPF

Political Engagement Among Young People

Written by David Wills

Friday, November 13, 2015

With partners Shout Out UK and Road Works Media, Youth UPF participated in a workshop to promote political literacy among young adults and teenagers during Parliament Week. Both Shout Out UK and Universal Peace Federation (UPF) - UK are partners of Parliament Week. Matteo Bergamini, founder of Shout Out UK, in photo launching the event. Quince Garcia and Julian Bernard Grau ran different sections of the workshop following a talk by Guardian Journalist, Erica Buist.

Robin Marsh from UPF commented, "It was a wonderful opportunity to see political thinking expressed in a youthful style. Rap, poetry and drawings accompanied more conventional discussions of political parties."

Report from ShoutOutUK

Under 25s gathered at Europe House for a Free-thinking Workshop organised by Shout Out UK, delivered by RoadWorks Media and with a keynote speech by Erica Buist from the Guardian.

On the 12th November 2015, Shout Out UK, The Universal Peace Federation and RoadWorks Media presented and delivered a Free Thinking workshop, which helped participants relate to their role in society. Looking at their background and how that can influence a political position.

We looked at how important it is to be able to understand a situation from multiple perspectives. The workshop aimed to get you politically engaged by providing you with tools to empower the way you see yourself in society.

The event was headed by a Keynote speech from Guardian journalist Erica Buist

Quotes from Erica Buist:

“I think its difficult to feel passionately engaged with something when you’re best left out and at worst maligned”

“Young people feel as left out of the political discussion as, frankly, they are designed to”

“All politics is is just the policies that affect us every single day”

“If we want young people to engage in politics I think we need to stop blaming them for their own political irrelevance”

Workshop Details with Quince & Julien

Quince ran an exercise that involved the room being split into groups of roughly 6 with each group being given a political party and asked to write any thoughts, ideas or facts they knew about it. A good mold for how political education could potentially work in schools. Julien ran an exercise about “creating an informed opinion by opening perspectives”.

For more see: http://www.shoutoutuk.org/2015/11/13/under-25s-gather-to-discuss-politics-at-the-eus-hq-in-the-uk/